September 1 2004

Go around the world in three hours when you enter the secret portal at Bacquets Wine Store's backdoor. Leave your passport at home and garner yourself a reservation to earn your international food and wine passport on September 10 as Bacquets dishes it up from around the world. Vino verde with petiscos and salgados from Portugal begins the evening. Head to Romania for roasted pork and Cabernet, throw in a little Scandinavian seafood and salad nicoise straight from the French Riviera followed by a Rose d'Anjou. Sample wines from countries like Italy, Germany and Japan while you "Finnish" the evening by dancing the night away.

To embark on Bacquets' international tour on September 10, call 376-WINE to make reservations. The evening begins at 7 p.m. and tickets are $75 per person.

'TIS TAILGATING TIME

As we 'Mericans love little more than BBQ, trucks and team sports, it's no wonder that nearly all tailgating in the land of the free happens between the months of August and December when football is in full swing. Packing all that finger food and beer into mere weeks out of the year is not a tiresome task for the cocktail weenie-loving fans. But for the tailgate un-savvy or the tailgate too-savvy who may want to impress their guests with something a little different, local kitchen supply store Easy Cookin' has put together a cookbook chock full of recipes exclusively for tailgating. Written by "celebrities" for we the people, the cookbook will help you remodel your tailgate buffet table or help you find something other than Albertson's deli tray to take to your boss's parking lot party. The proceeds from book sales benefit Life's Kitchen, the culinary and life skill training school for teens in transition. Buy a copy at Life's Kitchen or Easy Cookin' for $9.95 or call 331-0199 for more information.

NEW ON THE MENU

Now that's it's had the summer to settle into its digs and impress us with its patio, Reef is undergoing the obligatory new restaurant menu tweak. After a few months of rockin' weekends and packed lunches, they now know what you're hankering for and have added more than a half-dozen items to tempt you. For the sharing, there's chips and salsa or chips and guac, and a whole mess of Brazilian skewers to choose from: grilled chicken with habenero attitude sauce, jerk pork with orange chipolte mole, shrimp with lime chimmichurri and our favorite, ancho chili beef with manchamanteles. For the Atkins crowd a new chargrilled filet of salmon makes an appearance on the lunch menu, and for those who just can't give up the sandwich for that midday meal, a BLT and a half sandwich and soup combo will fulfill your carb requirements.

For those of you who live in a cave out past Kuna and don't already know, Reef is located on the corner of Sixth and Main street on the second floor. :